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Petawawa murder suspect in court today

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Twenty-five-year-old Brian David Goddard is in court today, facing a charge of first-degree murder and two charges of attempted murder.

Four days after the attacks that left 56-year-old Dan Pietersma dead, his wife, Sharlene Pietersma, 55, and Emma Guthrie,17, seriously injured, the victims’ Petawawa Point neighbourhood is calm and quiet once again.

On Friday, the area was anything but quiet, after police discovered the body of Pietersma when responding to a 911 call shortly before 11 a.m. After a massive manhunt, OPP emergency response team (ERT) and canine unit officers found and arrested Goddard, who has been in custody since.

The atmosphere of Friday’s manhunt, with much of Petawawa echoing with the sound of police and ambulance sirens and the air criss-crossed with search helicopters, is polar opposite to the peace that residents have come to expect and enjoy, and, for the most part, they intend to continue to enjoy their quiet, cul-de-sac lifestyle in the wake of all the chaos.

“I’m not going to stop living my life just because of something like this,” says Steve Clark, who lives on Jan Street, just a few houses from one of three of Friday’s crime scenes.

His wife Debbie, however, is a bit less nonchalant.

“My front door stays locked now,” she says. “When he (Steve) is home the windows are open, but when he’s not, or when we go to bed, we keep them closed.”

A little further away, on adjacent Abbie Lane, Luc Gunville sides more with Steve than with Debbie.

“Why should I change what I do?” he asks rhetorically when asked if the murder has changed anything in his day-to-day routine. “It happened once and that’s it.”

While he is quick to downplay the whole situation, Gunville was actually a central player in the investigation and manhunt that followed the brutal attacks.

He was in the back yard when his dog started to growl at something. Heading inside, he heard a knock on the door and opened it to come face to face with a man, covered in blood, who was asking for help.

“I opened the door, saw that bloody guy, and I closed the door again,” Gunville recalls. “He said ‘help me’ so I said ‘okay, stay right there, I’m calling 911 right now’. He left, so I guess he didn’t need any help.

“A minute later the cops were here, and he was gone.”

Even on East Street, where the police presence continued to be visible as crime scene investigators pored over evidence in the Pietersma home, life for neighbours has more or less settled back into normalcy.

“It’s pretty much the way it’s always been,” says Jamie Brennan, who has lived just a few houses up from the Pietersmas for decades. “Hopefully this is isolated and it’ll be at least another 20 years before anything like this comes again.”

While there’s no question that for the families and friends of the victims of these attacks, life may never return to what used to be called ‘normal’, the community they live seems to have decided that they will not let this tragedy dictate their lives going forward.

On its Facebook page, The Pembroke Mall has acknowledged its support for Sharlene Pietersma, who it said was the manager at Bentley.

On Emma’s Facebook page, her father posted the following statement on Sunday.

“Emma wants to thank everyone for all the love, prayers, and support during this difficult time. She's well on her way to a speedy recovery thanks to all of you. I've read all the posts on her wall and it’s good to see a smile on her face.”

Ryan Paulsen is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist

Twitter: @PRyanPaulsen

ryan.paulsen@sunmedia.ca

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